LONDON (AFP) - Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard scored twice as the Merseysiders ended 2008 on top of the Premier League with a 5-1 win away to Newcastle at St James' Park on Sunday.

Second-placed Chelsea were held to a dramatic 2-2 draw by Fulham to leave Liverpool with a three-point lead heading into the new year.

Meanwhile, former Arsenal captain Tony Adams saw the Gunners leave his Portsmouth side just three points above the relegation zone with a 1-0 win at the Emirates.

Everton won 3-0 at home to Sunderland as Ricky Sbragia's first match since being confirmed as the Black Cats full-time manager in succession to Roy Keane ended in defeat.

West Ham fought back to beat 10-man Stoke 2-1 with the losers also having Ricardo Fuller sent-off for a slap on his own captain Andy Griffin.

Robinho rescued a point deep into stoppage-time for Manchester City away to Blackburn Rovers as manager Mark Hughes's club, 2-0 down with six minutes to play, drew 2-2 against his old one in a dramatic late kick-off.

One consolation for Rovers was that the point they earned took them off the bottom after West Brom had beaten 10-man Tottenham 2-0.

Reigning champions Manchester United, third with three games in hand, face Middlesbrough at Old Trafford on Monday while Aston Villa can regain fourth place from Arsenal away to Hull on Tuesday.

At St James' Park, Gerrard opened the scoring just after the half-hour mark. Five minutes later Sami Hyypia's header made it 2-0.

But slack marking by Liverpool saw Newcastle, who before kick-off found out that owner Mike Ashley had reversed his decision to sell the club, pull a goal back on the stroke of half-time when a corner was headed in by David Edgar.

Ryan Babel made it 3-1 to Liverpool five minutes into the second-half and Gerrard made sure of the points with a cool finish in the 66th minute.

Xabi Alonso added a fifth from the penalty spot after Edgar's foul on David Ngog.

"You haven't seen the best of Liverpool yet," said Sammy Lee, their assistant manager. "You win nothing in December but you can certainly lose a lot."

Fulham's American international Clint Dempsey stunned Chelsea when he got on the end of Simon Davies's 10th minute free-kick at Craven Cottage.

But five minutes into the second-half Frank Lampard equalised when he capitalised on a mix-up between Fulham 'keeper Mark Schwarzer and Aaron Hughes.

Lampard put Chelsea ahead when his 72nd minute free-kick deceived Schwarzer only for Dempsey to head in Fulham's second from a corner a minute from full-time.

Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari was critical of the poor defending from set-pieces which contributed to both Fulham goals.

"Before the game every player knows who to mark," said the Brazilian. "It is my job now to look and see what happened."

Arsenal, who saw Pompey striker Peter Crouch hit the post with a first-half header, had to wait until nine minutes before full-time to break the deadlock when William Gallas seized on an error by England keeper David James.

"It was a big three points for us," said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.

Mikel Arteta put Everton in front against Sunderland with a 25-yard free-kick in the 10th minute at Goodison Park and the Spanish midfielder doubled the lead 17 minutes later with a deflected shot after another free-kick had been blocked.

Dan Gosling added a third seven minutes from time to keep Everton on track for a European place.

Goals from South Africa's Benni McCarthy and fellow striker Jason Roberts appeared to have sealed victory for Blackburn at Ewood Park.

But Manchester City substitute Daniel Sturridge turned the match on its head, scoring one and setting-up Robinho's equaliser.

"When it got to the latter stages we were struggling but the lads showed fantastic effort and great character to get something out of it," Hughes said.

Dejected Rovers boss Sam Allardyce added: "It feels like a defeat."

Abdoulaye Faye put Stoke ahead in the fourth minute at Upton Park, but West Ham were level when Carlton Cole turned Griffin early in the second-half - the incident which appeared to spark Fuller's confrontation with his captain.

West Ham's Diego Tristan made it 2-1 when he turned in Cole's shot two minutes from time.

At the Hawthorns, Tottenham's Benoit Assou-Ekotto got a straight red card 10 minutes before half-time for a foul on Gianni Zuiverloom.

But it wasn't until the 83rd minute that Roman Bednar scored for the Baggies before Craig Beattie added a second.

In the day's other game, Egyptian star Amir Zaki scored from the penalty spot to give Wigan a 1-0 win at Lancashire rivals Bolton.

Watch live football match of Aston Villa vs Arsenal on 26th December, 2008. This football match of English Premier League will be seen on 12:30pm Estern. Details of this match with live channel links is here below.....

Watch live football match of Manchester City vs Hull Cityon 26th December, 2008. This football match of EnglishPremier League will be seen on 8:00am Estern. Detailsof this match with live channel links is here below.....

Watch live football match of Wigan Athletic vs Newcastleon 26th December, 2008. This football match of EnglishPremier League will be seen on 10:00am Estern. Detailsof this match with live channel links is here below.....

Watch live football match of Everton vs Chelsea on 22th December, 2008. This football match of England Premier League will be seen on 3:00pm ET. Details of this match with live channel links is here below..

Chelsea Football Club (soccer) based in West London showing the rest of the world that they are the best football club in the world. If the opposition wasn’t already worried we have just signed Michael Ballack & Andriy Shevchenko so we can win by a higher margin next season.

Established in 1892, Liverpool FC is the most successful club in the history of English football, having won a record 18 league titles. Most recently, the Club’s honours include being crowned European Cup winners for the 5th time in 2005, and winning the FA Cup in 2006.

Manchester United Football Club is an English football club, based at the Old Trafford stadium in Trafford, Greater Manchester, and is arguably the most popular football club in the world, with over 330 million supporters worldwide; 5% of the world's population. The club was a founding member of the Premier League in 1992, and has played in the top division of English football since 1975. Average attendances at the club have been higher than any other team in English football for all but six seasons since 1964–65.

The club is one of the most successful in English football; for over twenty years, since the 1986–87 season, they have won 18 major honours, which is more than any other Premier League club. They are the Premier League's reigning champions, and have won the Premier League/Football League 16 times. In 1968, they became the first English club to win the European Cup, beating S.L. Benfica 4–1, and they won a second European Cup in 1999. They also hold the record for the most FA Cup titles with 11.

Since the late 1990s, the club has been one of the richest in the world with the highest revenue of any football club, and is currently the second richest club in the world, based on revenue. Manchester United, which remains the most valuable club in the world, was a founding member of the now-defunct G-14 group of Europe's leading football clubs and its replacement, the European Club Association.

Sir Alex Ferguson has been manager of the club since 6 November 1986. The current club captain is Gary Neville, who succeeded Roy Keane in November 2005.

Arsenal may have been off the pace in the inaugural Premier League season in 1992/93, but they made up for it by winning both the FA and League Cups.

The Premier League crown eluded them until 1998 - two years into manager Arsene Wenger's tenure - when they did the league and FA Cup double. Under the Frenchman, the Gunners shook off their "boring" image and began to play some of the most attractive football in England.

In eight of his 12 seasons at the club, Arsenal have finished first or second. And together with star players such as Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira and Dennis Bergkamp, Wenger took Arsenal to another "double" in 2002.

The Gunners reached the Champions' League final in 2006, becoming the first London team to do so, but lost to Barcelona. Their Barclaycard Premiership title in 2003/04 saw them become only the second team to win the league without losing a match - earning them the title "The Invincibles." Overall they went 49 matches unbeaten, which is a national record.

Club Heritage

In 1886, a group of workers at the Woolwich Arsenal Armament Factory formed a team called Dial Square, renaming themselves to Royal Arsenal shortly afterwards. The team turned professional in 1891 and changed its name again to Woolwich Arsenal, eventually dropping the prefix completely in 1913 when they moved to Highbury.

The Gunners joined the Second Division in 1893 and were promoted in 1904. Success eluded them until the arrival of Herbert Chapman in 1925 when they won the league five times between 1930 and 1938 and the FA Cup twice. Chapman, who died in 1934, was also behind the renaming of the nearest London Underground station to Arsenal.

Arsenal had to wait until the 1970s for their next period of success. But their first double in 1971 was followed by several near-misses - finishing second in 1972, and losing three FA Cup finals and the 1980 European Cup Winners' Cup final.

It was not until the return of ex-player George Graham as manager that the club rose to greatness again - winning six trophies during his nine-year reign. That included League Cup success in 1987 and 1993, the FA Cup in 1993, the league title in 1989 and 1991 and European Cup Winners' Cup in 1994. Arsenal hold the enviable record of the most consecutive seasons in the top flight - 80 at present.